Life span: 02/08/1820 to 02/14/1891TabsLife SummaryFull name: William Tecumseh ShermanPlace of Birth: Lancaster, OHBurial Place: St. Louis, MOBirth Date Certainty: ExactDeath Date Certainty: ExactGender: MaleRace: WhiteSectional choice: NorthOrigins: Free StateNo. of Spouses: 1No. of Children: 8Family: Charles R. Sherman (father), Mary Hoyt (mother), Ellen Ewing (wife), John Sherman (brother)Education: West Point (US Military Academy)Occupation: MilitaryBusinessmanMilitary: US military (Pre-Civil War)Union ArmyUS military (Post-Civil War) Note Cards William Tecumseh Sherman (American National Biography) Scholarship[William] Sherman came out of the war with the success he had always craved. He enjoyed his popularity but wanted only to go back to the army and society as he remembered them before secession. However, the war had changed the United States, and the Reconstruction following the war was a difficult time. Sherman supported the old-line leaders in the South. Though he knew slavery was dead, he thought that the freed people should be kept in a subordinate status. When Andrew Johnson tried to use him in his battle with Congress, Sherman refused to become involved, insisting that the only answer to the imbroglio was a return to the prewar years. When [Ulysses S.] Grant became president in 1869, Sherman succeeded him as commanding general, a post he was to keep until his retirement. He found the job frustrating. Grant did not support him in his battle with the secretary of war over command jurisdiction, causing a rupture in their friendship that was never totally healed. He was regularly upset as Congress continually cut army strength and military salaries. Politicians ignored his military counsel, even when it came to waging the difficult American Indian wars. As a result, Sherman left Washington whenever he could, spending a year on tour in Europe and the Middle East (1871-1872) and another eighteen months (1874-1876) in St. Louis. He particularly enjoyed visiting the West, and in 1879 he received a friendly welcome when he revisited scenes of his wartime exploits in the South. John F. Marszalek, "Sherman, William Tecumseh," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-00706.html. Events Date span begin Life span End Event 11/10/1860 11/10/1860 William T. Sherman writes to his wife from Louisiana about the election 11/23/1860 11/23/1860 William T. Sherman writes to his wife from Louisiana that she stay in Ohio 12/09/1860 12/09/1860 Congressman John Sherman urges his brother William to return to Ohio from Louisiana 07/21/1861 07/22/1861 The first pitched battle of the war between armies results in a Union disaster at Bull Run 09/18/1861 09/18/1861 Robert Anderson, hero of Fort Sumter, takes command of Kentucky's military forces 10/08/1861 10/08/1861 William Tecumseh Sherman takes command of the Department of the Cumberland, replacing Robert Anderson 10/29/1861 10/29/1861 Largest U.S. Fleet ever assembled sails from Norfolk, Virginia to blockade and harass the Confederate coast 11/01/1861 11/02/1861 The South Atlantic Blockading Squadron runs into a storm on its way to South Carolina and ships are lost 04/06/1862 04/06/1862 Massed Confederate forces attack the Union's Army of the Tennessee at Pittsburg Landing 04/07/1862 04/07/1862 At Pittsburg Landing, Union reinforcements turn the tide on the second day of the Battle of Shiloh 05/14/1863 05/14/1863 Grant's Union Army captures Jackson, the state capital of Mississippi 05/16/1863 05/16/1863 Union forces withdraw from the Mississippi state capital of Jackson after inflicting heavy damage 05/18/1863 05/18/1863 On the Mississippi, the Union's Army of the Tennessee completely surrounds Vicksburg 05/19/1863 05/19/1863 The Union's Army of the Tennessee attempts the storming of Vicksburg but is beaten back 05/22/1863 05/22/1863 Second Union attempt to take Vicksburg by infantry assault ends in bloody failure with 500 dead 05/25/1863 05/25/1863 After twice failing to storm the city, Union General Grant orders a siege at Vicksburg, Mississippi 05/26/1863 07/03/1863 In Mississippi, the Siege of Vicksburg continues 06/18/1863 06/18/1863 General Ulysses S. Grant fires his troublesome and ambitious subordinate, James A. McClernand 06/14/1864 06/14/1864 Confederate General, and Episcopal bishop, Leonidas Polk is killed in action in Georgia 06/27/1864 06/27/1864 In Georgia, Sherman's direct assault on Confederate positions on Kennesaw Mountain fails with heavy losses 07/22/1864 07/22/1864 At the Battle of Atlanta, the Union's Army of the Tennessee defeats Confederate attempts to defend the city 08/31/1864 09/01/1864 Union forces break the last Confederate efforts to defend Atlanta at the Battle of Jonesborough 09/02/1864 09/02/1864 The Union's Army of the Tennessee captures Atlanta, boosting northern morale and Republican prospects 11/15/1864 11/15/1864 In Georgia, General W.T. Sherman and his 62,000 men march out of a burning Atlanta, heading for the sea 12/13/1864 12/13/1864 Near Savannah, Georgia, Fort McAllister falls to Union troops and Sherman makes contact with the U.S. Navy 12/20/1864 12/21/1864 In Georgia, Confederate troops evacuate Savannah and Sherman's "March to the Sea" is complete 04/17/1865 04/17/1865 In North Carolina, CSA General J. E. Johnston opens surrender talks with Union General W. T. Sherman 04/18/1865 04/18/1865 General W.T. Sherman, negotiating Confederate surrender in North Carolina, makes a political blunder 04/26/1865 04/26/1865 In North Carolina, against orders, CSA General J. E. Johnston surrenders the entire Army of the Tennessee 05/24/1865 05/24/1865 In Washington D.C., the second day of the Grand Review sees General Sherman's army parade through the city 05/30/1865 05/30/1865 The Great North-Western Sanitary Fair opens in Chicago, Illinois 06/24/1865 06/24/1865 The Great North-Western Sanitary Fair closes in Chicago, Illinois having raised $270,000 11/11/1865 11/11/1865 In Washington, Mary E. Walker is awarded the Medal of Honor for her services as a Union wartime nurse 06/29/1867 06/29/1867 In Kansas, Cheyenne and Lakota warriors wipe out a U.S. Army detail of twelve men. 07/12/1867 07/12/1867 In Kansas, Seventh Cavalry scouts find the bodies of Lieutenant Kidder's patrol killed two weeks before. 07/20/1867 07/20/1867 The U.S. Congress authorizes an Indian Peace Commission to negotiate with hostile Plains Indian tribes. 08/06/1867 08/06/1867 The Indian Peace Commission, newly appointed to negotiate with hostile Plains Indian tribes, organizes in St. Louis, Missouri. 08/19/1867 08/19/1867 The Indian Peace Commission meets with Sioux tribal leaders near Fort Thompson in South Dakota. Major TopicsSherman's March Vicksburg Campaign Documents Author Docs Date Title 04/18/1865 Basis of Agreement for the surrender of the Confederate Army of the Tennessee 07/04/1863 Recollection by William T. Sherman, Siege of Vicksburg Ends, July 4, 1863 12/12/1859 William T. Sherman to Ellen Sherman, December 12, 1859 02/10/1860 William T. Sherman to Ellen Sherman, February 10, 1860 11/10/1860 William T. Sherman to Ellen Sherman, November 10, 1860 11/23/1860 William T. Sherman to Ellen Sherman, November 23, 1860 11/29/1860 William T. Sherman to Ellen Sherman, November 29, 1860 10/29/1859 William T. Sherman to Ellen Sherman, October 29, 1859 02/01/1860 William T. Sherman to John Sherman, February 1860 01/08/1860 William T. Sherman to Thomas Ewing, January 8, 1860 07/22/1860 William T. Sherman to Thomas Ewing, Jr., July 22, 1860 04/08/1865 William T. Sherman to Ulysses S. Grant, Goldsboro, North Carolina, April 8, 1865 04/12/1865 William T. Sherman to Ulysses S. Grant, Smithfield, North Carolina, April 12, 1865 04/18/1865 William T. Sherman to William W. Halleck, April 18, 1865 06/24/1865 William T. Sherman, "Remarks," Lancaster, Ohio, June 24, 1865 Subject Docs Date Title 10/13/1861 New York Herald, “General Sherman in Kentucky,” October 13, 1861 12/31/1861 Abraham Lincoln to David Hunter, December 31, 1861 05/17/1863 New York Herald, “The Pen and the Sword,” May 17, 1863 05/29/1863 John A. McClernand to Abraham Lincoln, May 29, 1863 06/06/1863 Thomas Ewing to Abraham Lincoln, June 6, 1863 03/12/1864 Christopher C. Andrews to Abraham Lincoln, March 12, 1864 03/27/1865 Edwin Stanton, Orders for ceremonies at Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina 04/19/1865 Repudiation of the "Basis of Agreement for the surrender of the Confederate Army of the Tennessee" Addressee Docs Date Title 11/23/1860 John Sherman to William Tecumseh Sherman, November 26, 1860 12/09/1860 John Sherman to William Tecumseh Sherman, December 9, 1860 12/26/1864 Abraham Lincoln to William T. Sherman, December 26, 1864 04/15/1865 Edwin M. Stanton to Major General William T. Sherman, April 15, 1865 04/15/1865 Henry W. Halleck to William T. Sherman, April 15, 1865 Images William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman, detail William Tecumseh Sherman, engraving William Tecumseh Sherman, engraving, detail "Santa Claus Sherman putting Savannah into Uncle Sam's Stocking," cartoon, Frank Leslie's Illustrated, January 14, 1865 General William T. Sherman and staff officers, Atlanta, Georgia, November 1864, zoomable image General William T. Sherman on horseback, Atlanta, Georgia, November 1864 General William T. Sherman on horseback, Atlanta, Georgia, November 1864, detail Union General Sherman reviewing his troops, Savannah, Georgia, January 1865, William Waud, zoomable image Bibliography Chicago Style Entry Link Sherman, William Tecumseh and Walter L. Fleming. General W.T. Sherman as College President: A Collection of Letters, Documents, and Other Material, Chiefly from Private sources, Relating to the Life and Activities of General William Tecumseh Sherman, to the Early Years of Louisiana State University, and to the Stirring Conditions Existing in the South on the Eve of the Civil War, 1859-1861. Cleveland, OH: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1912. View Record Fellman, Michael. Citizen Sherman: A Life of William Tecumseh Sherman. New York: Random House, 1995. View Record Marszalek, John F. Sherman: A Soldier's Passion for Order. New York: Free Press, 1993. View Record Flood, Charles Bracelen. Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. View Record Bower, Stephen E. “The Theology of the Battlefield: William Tecumseh Sherman and the U.S. Civil War.” Journal of Military History 64, no. 4(2000): 1005-1034. View Record Woodworth, Steven E. Sherman. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. View Record
William Tecumseh Sherman (American National Biography) Scholarship[William] Sherman came out of the war with the success he had always craved. He enjoyed his popularity but wanted only to go back to the army and society as he remembered them before secession. However, the war had changed the United States, and the Reconstruction following the war was a difficult time. Sherman supported the old-line leaders in the South. Though he knew slavery was dead, he thought that the freed people should be kept in a subordinate status. When Andrew Johnson tried to use him in his battle with Congress, Sherman refused to become involved, insisting that the only answer to the imbroglio was a return to the prewar years. When [Ulysses S.] Grant became president in 1869, Sherman succeeded him as commanding general, a post he was to keep until his retirement. He found the job frustrating. Grant did not support him in his battle with the secretary of war over command jurisdiction, causing a rupture in their friendship that was never totally healed. He was regularly upset as Congress continually cut army strength and military salaries. Politicians ignored his military counsel, even when it came to waging the difficult American Indian wars. As a result, Sherman left Washington whenever he could, spending a year on tour in Europe and the Middle East (1871-1872) and another eighteen months (1874-1876) in St. Louis. He particularly enjoyed visiting the West, and in 1879 he received a friendly welcome when he revisited scenes of his wartime exploits in the South. John F. Marszalek, "Sherman, William Tecumseh," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-00706.html.
"Santa Claus Sherman putting Savannah into Uncle Sam's Stocking," cartoon, Frank Leslie's Illustrated, January 14, 1865
Union General Sherman reviewing his troops, Savannah, Georgia, January 1865, William Waud, zoomable image